Midnight Tête à Tête
by MewJounouchi
Summary: "Great, she scolded herself. He must think I'm an idiot and now I'm going to fail my assignment." When my character  had to go talk to Lucas about the Temple Knights, I decided to add more complexities to the event...
1. Emain Macha

**I do not own Mabinogi nor any of its characters, except for my own.**

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><p><em>Emain Macha: the city of entertainment, art, and culture; the destination for tourists, adventurers, and people looking to start life anew.<em>

It took the young soldier-in-training several days to make it to the stunning city on horseback—having to stop every night in the woods to set up camp as there were rarely any towns along the way. She was glad when she saw the colossal stone gates stand proudly against the backdrop of city lights, which lit up the night sky like fireworks. A sense of relief rushed over her and she galloped her way into the decorated metropolis, already knowing which building she had to find in order to complete the assignment her captain had bestowed upon her.

Her shire was tied to a sturdy tree before being left a few yards away from the facility of which she was to enter. Already exhausted as one could be from the journey, she was both nervous and pleased to get her mission over with. At this point all she wanted to do was find an inn and sleep in a comfortable bed.

She made her way towards the redheaded male standing by the entrance that led into a small corridor. Her captain already told her what she had needed to do. She handed him 1000 gold pieces and he winked at her before giving her the pass that would allow her admission into a place she never thought she would ever want to enter. She lightly blushed at the doorman as she walked into the dark hallway, avoiding eye contact at all cost and keeping her eyes on the door at the end.

Pulling her Popo cap down to try and futilely cover her face, she handed her pass to the second man standing by the official entrance. He took it and opened the door for her, smiling in a way that made her feel ever so slightly uncomfortable. "Welcome to Bean Rua," he said smoothly.

The nervous, dark-haired girl nodded in thanks before stepping into Udlah's most famed nightclub.


	2. Lucas

"Welcome to Bean Rua!" a chorus of female voices greeted her enthusiastically upon seeing a visitor enter the building. "Please, come take a seat and enjoy yourself!" 

Vanda stopped and stared at all of the redheaded waitresses and touched her own black hair. _All the women really do have red hair_, she said to herself, amazed. She took off her cap and put it in her knapsack as she looked around her surroundings. 

It was rather quiet for a nightclub, not loud and busy like she had heard the soldiers say it was to be back in Tailteann. It was a two story complex as far as she could tell. The second floor was one huge balcony and seemed to have a large table. The first floor was more astounding to Vanda's small town eyes as it consisted of several large square tables and even a piano in the corner which was elevated onto its own little stage. Three redheaded beauties stood around in their stylish black uniforms, waiting to service any customer who wanted their assistance. 

But Vanda did not need their assistance; she needed to talk to the one man that was most important to Bean Rua: the owner slash bartender. Fortunately he wasn't hard to find, as the bar was located in the back of the room, expanding out the entire circumference. And there he was, standing right behind the polished wooden counter: Lucas. 

He was a tall man with dark hair, dark clothes, and a distinctive beard. He was neither smiling nor frowning, but had a rather neutral expression on his face while he just stood there cleaning a wine glass in his hands. As Vanda slowly walked down the room towards him she caught a glimpse of the infamous confidence which resided in his eyes as he basically glared at her. 

Immediately she felt intimidated. 

"…are you Mr. Lucas?" she asked once she was standing directly in front of the counter. She had to tilt her head back just to look up at him, she did not realise he was that tall at first. 

Lucas looked down at her before answering, "Yes. What's it to you?" 

Vanda bowed her head respectfully and stood with her hands held together in front of her skirt, "My name is Vanda, sir. I am here on behalf of Andras, captain of the Human Praetorian of Tailteann." 

He stared at her. 

"Um, I have been assigned to um, investigate the um…" she could barely get her words out. His eyes seemed to pierce straight through her body and made her feel completely vulnerable in almost every aspect. Her cheeks started to burn as she became increasingly embarrassed; she looked down at her boots. _Great, _she scolded herself. _He must think I'm an idiot and now I'm going to fail my assignment._

"What were you saying?" he asked in a patronizing voice, wiping the glass clean and placing it on the counter to the side. 

The young soldier sighed and her shoulders dropped as she lifted her head and looked at Lucas in the eye. _If I'm going to do this, I should do it right._

"Mr. Lucas, sir," Vanda said in a tone of voice that was obviously full of forced confidence. "My name is Vanda o'Gallchobhair and I am here on behalf of Captain Andras, head of the Human Praetorian of Tailteann and Vice Commander of the Military." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the scroll that had her mission on it; her proof to him that she was a legitimate aide of the military and not some con artist. 

"I have been assigned the task of locating you and inquiring into your association with an organization known as the Temple Knights." She put the scroll back into her pocket and stood there, waiting for the man to talk.


	3. Conditions?

Upon hearing the reason as to why this timorous female was standing before him, Lucas' eyebrow rose up slightly. A small reaction, but a reaction that even Vanda could notice. It became dead quiet as he did not say anything and she held her breath out of apprehension. An odd tension began to rise up around the two and even the waitresses glanced back to look before going back to their own business. 

After what seemed like an eternity, Lucas' eyes narrowed and he said, "The Temple Knights? I know not of what you speak of." 

"Oh please, if that was true why did it take you forever to say so?" Vanda spoke suddenly before clamping her mouth shut, not sure if that was the best way to get someone to talk. 

A small chuckle escaped his lips and he shook his head. "All right then, doll," he said, placing his hands on the counter and leaning in over it. A whiff of a cologne rushed past the girl's face and she took a step back out of impulse, the man was getting too close for comfort. "Take a seat," he said, nodding at the bar stool that was directly to her right. Vanda obeyed, disarming herself and placing her swords on the table behind her before sitting down with her hands on her lap. 

"Now you must understand," he went on, speaking in a low voice. "I cannot simply give you such information without…anything in return." 

"Um, what do you want, sir?" 

"I want to know why exactly you want me to tell you about them." 

She was hesitant to give an answer on that. Captain Andras had not ordered her that she could not disclose that information to anyone, but it simply did not seem like a smart thing to do. She looked at Lucas before grinning uneasily and placing a hand on her head, "Ahaha, I…I don't think I can tell you." 

"Under orders?" he asked, not fazed. 

"Y-y…es…" 

Lucas nodded, slowly looking at her up and down. He wasn't exactly sure what to think of her, she was such an awkward little thing. Didn't really seem to know what she was doing at all, yet she was still here trying. But he wasn't going to give out information to her as easily as she wished he would. He had a way of life, and it was that you never do anything for anyone unless you get something back in return. 

"Your name was Vanda, right?" he asked, a plan started to slowly formulate. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Okay, Vanda," he said, giving her a small smile that was infamously known as a bad thing around Emain Macha. "I will tell you all you want, but I have two things you need to do for me in order for that to happen." 

"As long as your requests are within reasonable—" 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he cut her off, waving his hand in the air to quiet her. "First, since you came in here and you are sitting on my bar stool, you're going to have to buy a drink or two." 

"But Mr. Lucas, I don't drink…" 

"Too bad, honey."


	4. All For Captain

Vanda stared at the man standing before her. Surely he wasn't about to ruin her body with alcohol. She never had a drink in her life…what if she became drunk? She saw some of the soldiers drink before while she was in Tailteann, they became so obnoxious and loose with their mouths. What if the same thing happened to her and she told Lucas everything about her mission?

"I can't! I never drank before in my life! Can't I just buy dinner or something? I haven't had a proper meal to eat since…" but she was not able to finish her sentence as Lucas once again cut her off.

"You can add a meal to your drink. But believe me, you're not going to get anything out of me unless you buy one first."

Vanda sighed and nodded as a frown appeared on her face; it slowly turned into an expression that would make her seem as if she were pouting. "What's the second request?" she asked in an austere tone.

Lucas smirked victoriously before answering her question, "I've been having some trouble with these monsters every time I pass by Bangor…"

"Bangor? That's where I'm from."

"Oh? Interesting, then you shall have no trouble slaughtering some Kobold Bandits for me now, will you?"

"_K-k-kobold bandits_!" Vanda practically screamed as she stood up off of her seat out of rashness. The waitresses once again turned around to look, muttering amongst themselves. "No, Mr. Lucas! I hate them!" she cried as her eyes widened. And indeed she did. Just thinking about them made her disgusted and scared, and they also were one of the reasons why she decided to move away from Bangor.

"You do?" Lucas asked almost enthusiastically. "So do I! That's why you're going out to kill about ten of them for me."

The look of distress came over her and she flopped back into her seat. "Why," she asked quietly. Realizing that she is starting to sound like a whiny little girl more than an aide to a military mission, she told herself to just listen to do as he wished. Sure she hated Kobold Bandits—those disgusting, deformed little goblins were always annoying pests around Bangor. Attacking unsuspecting residents and pets, robbing them of their things and so forth…

"Because one, they bother me and my men every time we pass through there. Two, I would go and kill them myself but as you can see I have this place to handle. Three, it'll be nice practice for you—being a female in the army and all."

This man was using her beyond reason and she didn't exactly like that. "What would happen if I said that I wasn't going to go kill them for you?" she asked, somehow deluding herself into hoping that he wouldn't mind and said that it would be fine.

"Hm, I'll just not give you any of the information of which you need," he answered back with a small smirk.

_Bastard,_ Vanda thought to herself as she glared at him. So this was how it shall be. Well, if it was all for the sake of her captain—and the fact that she was ordered to not return until she received the proper information—then it must be done. No, she did not want to drink any wine and she did not want to hunt down any monsters...she didn't even want to eat at this place, but she had no other choice.

_The man was manipulative._

She straightened up in her seat and with resentfully spoke, "I'll have the Emain Macha Wine with the Roasted Chicken Wing."

Her request was her declaration of defeat, which was Lucas' ticket for convenience and more money. Smirking yet again he nodded at her before turning around to go and cook up her order, leaving her with a response that made her cringe with irritation.

"Coming your way, doll."


	5. Drink It Down

The wine was absolutely disgusting.

As Vanda struggled to drink her second glass, she stared at the bottle...it didn't seem be to emptying itself anytime soon. _I can't believe...this is happening..._ she thought to herself as she sat at the counter, keeping her eyes off of the highly amused Lucas. _What a sadistic person, _she silently cried to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut and took another sip of the horrendous liquid known as Emain Macha Wine.

"Are you enjoying that? It's Emain Macha's best," Lucas commented as he took Vanda's plate away, proceeding to the back to go and wash it.

She wasn't sure whether or not to give him an honest answer, as she despised the taste of this supposed gourmet drink. She took the bottle and filled up her glass to the top. The sight of the wine in the bottle lessening every time she poured it encouraged her, even if the wine was just going into the glass and nowhere else. She held her glass in her hands and stared down at it once again. _Seeing that I already paid for this, why do I have to drink the entire bottle in one sitting?_ She asked herself, glancing up at Lucas, who had his back to her.

"Hey, Mr. Lucas," she spoke up, the idea suddenly formulating in her head. With the intent of telling him that she was planning on packing up the wine and leaving, she asked, "My horse is waiting for me outside under a tree, is it all right if I just take bottle and go? It looked like it was going to rain when I came in and I don't want to-"

"Nope," was his rude reply, not bothering to turn around.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Vanda glared at him before quietly muttering words of distaste. She hoped that Lucas could feel her eyes on his back, as she was becoming increasingly irritated with this injustice. But she just reminded herself that once again, it was all for Captain Andras and this was all for her mission, and sometimes, injustice came with war.

_What am I talking about 'sometimes'_, she said to herself with a sigh. She took another sip of her drink, and then she wondered. What if she just downed the entire thing like it was medicine? She would get rid of it faster, and then she would be able to leave the building and go back to her horse, which would mark the commencement of her new tasks.

She pondered on the thought for a few minutes, taking small sips to carefully get a more detailed idea of what exactly the wine tasted like. She cringed every time, but then she finally fought up the nerve to actually drink down the entire glass in one gulp.

One could say that she saw stars, as the moment she swallowed it all she felt a rush of dizziness come over her. She had to lean against the counter for she herself wasn't sure how her body was reacting to the sudden large amount of alcohol. It was a mixed feeling of nausea and loss of breath.

"Ugh…" she groaned, wiping her mouth with her hand. It took her a while to feel better again, and when she did she couldn't believe that she was going to make herself drink what was possibly five more glasses. Maybe even more. Of course, she knew that she didn't have to follow through with her plan, as it seemed like a very terrible one that was diminishing her health by the second. However, she couldn't help but notice the progress of it as she poured herself another glass. Surely the results couldn't be that bad, and there was a Healer in the park right in front of the nightclub so if something were to happen she could just go there. Right?

Vanda frowned as she picked up her glass. _Oh, if only the guys back in Tailteann could see me now, _she thought before closing her eyes and taking another shot.


End file.
